AMSTERDAM AND THE "DROOM IN BAKSTEEN" Urban rambles in the Mecca of Social Housing"

Amsterdam and the "Droom in Baksteen" is a guidebook for lovers of urban explorations far away from the tourist crowds: it aims to acquaint its readers with a side of the Dutch capital that the majority of guides barely touch on, the Amsterdam of Hendrik Berlage, Arie Keppler and Michel De Klerk and their project that sought to provide the city's workers with "beautiful homes" that would stand as "monuments to the struggle of the working classes". This dream produced outstanding results, profoundly transforming the face of the city and turning Amsterdam into a monument to twentieth-century urban planning and a "mecca" for social housing. The six itineraries described in this guide, all of which are situated outside of the city centre, accompany the reader around some of the key locations designed by the architects of the Amsterdam School - a movement whose unique interpretation of social housing was founded upon the belief that "for the labourer who has lived for so long without beauty, nothing is beautiful enough".

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